Welcome to the home of the
Tosohatchee Crazy Chickens
Tosohatchee is a chapter in the Order of the Arrow, and part of Tipisa Lodge in the Central Florida Council. We serve the Little Econ District, which is located in eastern Orange and Seminole counties.
Tosohatchee is one of 14 different chapters in the lodge. Tosohatchee means "Fowl Water" (or "Chicken River" as we like to say) in the indian language from which it came.
April 2010
Attention All Arrowmen:
At the Chapter Meeting this week (April 15th), we will be holding our Chapter elections for youth leadership for the upcoming program year (July 2010 to June 2011). All youth should attend this very important meeting to either run for or vote for the many elected positions we have in the Chapter, such as Chapter Chief, First and Second Vice Chiefs, Secretary, Treasurer and Historian. We also have many Committees where you can volunteer to serve as a Chairman or Committee Member, such as Inductions, Publications, Ceremonies, Ordeal Operations and our new Drum and Dance Committees. There is an opportunity for leadership, service and fun for ANY interested youth.
Since we will be having a Chapter Meeting, the OA Cafe will be open selling chili. Come hungry!
The next major event is the Section Conference on April 16-18 at Camp Flaming Arrow in Lake Wales, FL. This is a Section event where we attend as a Lodge instead of a Chapter. There will likely be over 1000 Arrowmen in attendance at this event having informative seminars, fun games and fellowship. Pre-registration has closed, but you can still register at the door for $35. Our Chapter will likely attempt to travel as a caravan, so contact me at chaswetzel@gmail.com if you need a ride.
The program year will be wrapping up shortly thereafter with only the Service Weekend on May 14-16, 2010 remaining. There will be no more Chapter Meetings after the April elections as the May meeting is the District Banquet (where the Chapter will be cooking and serving the meal) and we typically take the summer off for meetings.
Yours In Service,
Charlie Wetzel, Chapter Advisor
Tosohatchee Chapter, Tipisa Lodge
March 2010
Attention All Arrowmen:
What a great weekend we had at Spring Conclave! We had about 30 youth and 10 adults in attendance with 6 or 7 achieving Brotherhood. In addition, we had 3 of our own recieve the Vigil Honor. The Vigil Honor is the highest honor that the Order of the Arrow can bestow upon its Members for service to Lodge, Council, and Scouting. Congratulations to Christian Wetzel, Greg Raymond and Stan Richards for this AWESOME accomplishment that is truly well deserved.
The next major event is the Section Conference on April 16-18 at Camp Flaming Arrow in Lake Wales, FL. This is a Section event where we attend as a Lodge instead of a Chapter. There will likely be over 1000 Arrowmen in attendance at this event having informative seminars, fun games and fellowship. Registration is available online right now on the Council web site only.
Unfortunately registration is only open until THIS THURSDAY (MARCH 25th) before a $10 late fee is added, so REGISTER NOW. The cost is $25 for the event and $5 for optional spirit items. Registration Flyer is here. Our Chapter will likely attempt to travel as a caravan, so stay tuned for details.
The program year will be wrapping up shortly thereafter with only the Service Weekend on May 14-16, 2010 remaining. There will be no more Chapter Meetings after the April elections as the May meeting is the District Banquet (where the Chapter will be cooking and serving the meal) and we typically take the summer off for meetings.
Scoutmasters and OA Troop Representatives, please spread the above at your Troop meetings this week.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Attention All Arrowmen:For all of those interested, we will be having our "First Annual Tosohatchee Carpet Golf Tournament" in place of our regular Chapter meeting on Thursday March 18th. You can meet at Congo River Golf (12193 East Colonial Drive, Orlando, 32826) at 7pm or leave with the caravan at 6:30pm from our normal Chapter meeting location (the LDS Church in Oviedo). Bring $5 for golf and extra money if you wish to purchase refreshments afterwards. A trophy will be awarded to the youth with the lowest score.
Since there will be no regular Chapter meeting, the Ceremonies, Dance and Drum Teams will not meet and we will not be having an OA Cafe at Roundtable. The caravan will return to Roundtable about 9pm or you may leave directly from Congo River Golf about 8:30pm. Also, don't forget about Chapter elections coming up at the April Chapter meeting on April 15th.
All members are also strongly encouraged to attend the Lodge's Spring Conclave on March 18th to the 21st at Camp LaNoChe. The is the biggest and most highly regarded event of the year. The theme is Back to the Future with games and movies themed accordingly. The cost is $20 and you can register online until March 16th, after which the cost will increase by $5. This weekend is also a great opportunity to complete Brotherhood if you have been an Ordeal member for more than 10 months. There is an additional $11 charge for Brotherhood. You must be dues paid to attend OA events and after Spring Conclave, dues increases from $9 to $18.
Also mark your calendars for our upcoming Section Conference on April 16th to the 18th at Camp Flaming Arrow in Lake Wales.
Scoutmasters and OA Troop Representatives, please relay this information to your units.
Yours in Cheerfulness,
Christian Wetzel, Chapter Chief
Tosohatchee Chapter, Tipisa Lodge
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News you can use - February 2010
There are several OA events coming up. The Tipisa Native American Weekend (TNAW) is being held February 5-7, 2010. This weekend of native american crafts, music, food, games and classes is open to Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts and OA Members. Registration and more information can be found at our Lodge web site. The Spring Conclave will be held March 19-21, 2010. On-line registration should be available soon.
Yours in Brotherhood.
Christian Wetzel, Chapter Chief
Charlie Wetzel, Chapter Advisor
Tosohatchee Chapter, Tipisa Lodge
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December 2009
Our Chapter has a few up and coming events such as our December holiday Chapter meeting and our Ordeal in January. Let's start with our December Chapter meeting. Tosohatchee's December meeting will be a little different than our usual meetings. Well actually, it's going to be a lot different than our usual Chapter meetings. For example, we are having the first annual Tosohatchee pron Chef (Pie-ron Chef), which is a pie-baking competition in which our very own Chapter members can either individually, or in groups, BAKE an original pie which should be ready to serve and eat at our meeting. There's one simple catch - the ingredient that must be in all of the pies is chocolate. Any pie that is handed in without chocolate, will be disqualified. Our Chapter meeting will be held on December 17th at 7pm at the LDS Church of Oviedo on Artesia St.
Another upcoming event is our Ordeal which will be held on January 15th-17th at Camp La-No-Che. Besides offering Brotherhood at our Ordeal, we are also in need of Chapter members to help us run it. If anyone is able to attend our Ordeal, it would be greatly appreciated if you can help us put our candidates through a great quality Ordeal. After all, this is their first exerience with the Order of the Arrow and we would like to make a great impression. One way that you can help is by contacting Christian Wetzel and signing up to become an Elangomat. If you would like to be an Elangomat, Tosohatchee will pay make the weekend fee for you and pay for Brotherhood for you at Spring Conclave in March if you are an Ordeal member, or paying for next year's dues if you are already a Brotherhood member. You can find the form here.
In addition, if you have been in the OA for 10 months or more and are in need of completing Brotherhood, there are other oppurtunities to complete it than just at OUR Ordeal. There are opportunities on December 5th at La-No-Che (9am and the OA Museum and bring $20)or December 12th at Tomoka State Park (contact quiet_giant05@yahoo.com for more information). There may be addition Brotherhood days in January and we will pass on informatrion when we get it.
Tosohatchee has also created a Facebook Group and you are invited to join.
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No Chapter Meeting on October 15th
We are sorry to announce that there will be no OA Chapter Meeting or OA Cafe at Roundtable this Thursday (October 15th). The Chapter is very busy this week with 4 elections and the University of Scouting. To our Arrowmen, we hope to see you at the University of Scouting on Saturday at West Orange High School to assist in our pancake breakfast and OA Cafe throughout the day. To our faithful chili fans, we apologize we can not feed you this month, but we will return next month.
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Come Cook with the Crazy Chickens
Come on out and cook for some Cubbies! The weekend of the 23rd of October will be the Cub scout District Family campout, the theme is Jungle Safari! So put on your loincloth, grab a vine and swing on over to make some grub for all of these jungle cubs!
We will be cooking jambalaya, hot dogs, spaghetti, pancakes, breakfast burittos, etc., details from Mr. Wetzel.
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What a great Fall Fellowship!
The theme was James Bond and our Crazy Chicken was well decked out in his tuxedo. We provided cheerful service to our Lodge by stepping up where other Chapters could not to provide lifeguards for the Friday night swim and run the Saturday night crackerbarrel and Casino Night. We participated in many games and finished 3rd in the Sink-A-Thon, 2nd in the Spirit Cone and we won the Most Trained Award. Despite the busy fall season and not so great weather, we had a decent turnout of 18 youth and 9 adults representing 9 Troops. We also had one Arrowmen complete his Brotherhood. For those who missed the fun this past weekend, we have Section Seminars in November and Spring Conclave in March coming up.
This Thursday (October 15th) we have a Chapter meeting. With not much business on our docket, we will be having a fun night with food and a movie. We hope to see you there.
As a reminder, we are currently scheduling OA Troop elections. We held 3 (Troops 173, 809 and 931), have 5 more scheduled (Troops 33, 111, 202, 608 and 631), but anticipate holding at least 9 more. If your Troop was not listed and you wish to have an election, please contact us at Roundtable or via email. We only have from now until the Call Out on November 21st at the District Fall Camporee to complete all elections.